ITV’s Text Santa 2013 raises £4.9m for six UK charities

Published: Thu 16 Jan 2014

ITV’s Text Santa 2013 appeal has so far raised £4.9m for six UK based charities, it was confirmed today.

The appeal culminated in a live, three-hour pre-Christmas show, which resulted in ITV viewers donating millions of pounds. Every penny goes directly to the six charities: Age UK, Barnardo’s, BeatBullying, British Heart Foundation, CLIC Sargent and Help the Hospices. A cheque presentation from the Text Santa appeal took place yesterday with all the charities attending, confirming the amount raised so far.

Sara Hanson, ITV's Head of Corporate Responsibility said:

“We'd like to pay tribute to the generosity of ITV's viewers and thank everyone for their fantastic support, including our presenters, and the stars such as Cheryl Cole, Robbie Williams, Gary Barlow, the cast and producers of Coronation Street and Emmerdale, and many, many others who did their bit for Text Santa. It was a brilliant team effort across ITV and Text Santa will be back later this year.”

In three years of fundraising, Text Santa has now raised over £14.5m for UK charities.

ITV directly funds all operating costs and 100% of donations get passed to the charities as soon as possible.

Text Santa 2013 devoted more airtime than ever before to the work of the charities with more than six hours showcasing their great work across the UK.